The Tree Council’s Community Trees Fund 2014 now open

The  Community Trees Fund is part of the Tree Futures grant programme.

This grant fund is open to Community Groups, both formal and ad hoc, within the United Kingdom.

You must ensure that children aged up to sixteen are included in the planting project.

If you would like to plant any fruit trees, please look at the information about the  Orchard Windfalls Fund.

Deadline is March 31^st. National Tree Week is Nov 29^th.

Fingerpost Champion Campaign shows the way forward

Our neighbouring Dorset AONB is running a Fingerpost Champion Campaign. There are many reasons to become a champion you could be a small community group or maybe a tradesman who can offer your workshop or services,  or maybe supply of wood as people seek to restore the fingerposts that are very much a feature of our local countryside. 

Alternatively you could simply help them survey these special fingerposts. 

Contact the Dorset AONB who will be very happy to discuss the process, and provide the information and advice that you will need.

HELP US ENSURE FUTURE FUNDING FOR AONB PROJECTS

The AONB and the Community Partnership Executive of North Dorset (CPEND) jointly prepared the ‘Sowing SEEDS’ bid to Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) in 2008. It was developed to support innovative activities and projects by rural communities, businesses (including farmers, growers and foresters) and community organisations within the area.

This funding was the first of its kind to cover the entire AONB area and offered new prospects to local communities of all ages, with innovative project ideas.

Between 2009 and 2013, the Local Action Group (LAG), made up of representatives from the local community, decided which community based initiatives or projects received funding from ‘Sowing SEEDS’. The contribution that the Sowing SEEDS LAG has made to the rural community has been significant. In total it has supported 35 initiatives and awarded grants worth over £1.28 million to grassroots focused, small-scale, innovative projects , generating an impressive range of benefits for the area.

Case Studies

A number of individual case studies which reflect the diversity and range of the projects the LAG has supported throughout this programme period will shortly be available on the Sowing SEEDS website, please visit: http://www.sowing-seeds.org.uk/projects.html

Successful Projects

The following projects received funding through Sowing SEEDS.  Those highlighted in bold are within the AONB. These come to a total of just under £500,000 but each project will have levered in significant amounts of additional match funding. Many of the other projects directly and indirectly benefit the AONB communities and environment.

Hindon Village Shop	£19,231.00
Blackmore Vale Butchery	£8,750.00
Shaftesbury Film Unit	£8,000.00
Dorset Farmers Market	£5,938.00
Blandford Allotments - Machinery Ring	£9,996.00
Feasibility Study, Training Unit	£10,000.00
CPEND Broadband	£9,500.00
Motcombe Community Shop	£29,556.00
Future Roots	£128,600.00
Food Mill Feasibility Study	£9,350.00
Kingston Lacy Growing Spaces	£30,914.00
Let's go H20	£9,200.00
Gillingham Town Design Statement	£4,800.00
Mere Chambers	£8,546.00
Wimborne BID	£10,000.00
Countryside Centre Phase 1	£6,378.50
Henry's Buttons	£10,000.00
Economic Spine	£9,950.00
Tisbury Chambers	£8,546.00
Leisure Credits	£113,525.68
Rural DORMEN	£22,500.00
Lordsmead Mill Micro Hydro	£34,347.55
Peggs Farm Micro Hydro	£21,807.00
Benjafield Farm Micro Hydro	£31,213.00
Employability Skills Base	£146,827.00
Semley Shop	£49,548.50
Driving Rural Business	£62,221.00
Sustainable Tourism	£58,285.00
Trailway Wood Fuels retort system	£11,654.40
CHAT Hub	£198,369.00
Chalke Valley Community Hub	£91,734.00
Bangers & Bacon	£10,000.00
Stourhead Kindling	£9,960.00
Blandford Car Club	£9,266.00
Kingston Lacy Glasshouses	£38,345.00

The next Rural Development Programme

The next Rural Development Programme is anticipated to start during 2015 and will run until 2020. The Sowing SEEDS Local Action Group has been awarded funding to cover the period of transition between the current and future Rural Development Programmes during 2014. The funding will allow the Sowing SEEDS programme staff to begin a thorough participatory consultation period with communities across the whole LAG area. The LAG will be seeking views from local communities and businesses to inform the content of the new strategy. Activity to gather these views will include:

• A series of public consultation meetings
• Recruitment of new LAG members and formation of a new LAG Executive Committee
• Gathering background information about the Sowing SEEDS LAG area
• Seeking views from previously funded LEADER projects

The information gathered from these meetings will inform the preparation of a new Local Development Strategy (LDS). This strategy will set development priorities for the next funding period.

How you can help ensure that local action continues in this area:

1.    Complete a very short on-line survey - The future success of Local Action relies entirely on the local community. Your input is needed to help shape the future of Local Action in this area, so even if you feel you have had little or nothing to do with this programme your response is very much appreciated.

All completed surveys will be anonymous and a summary of the results will be used to help prepare the final programme evaluation. Please follow the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M8ZP98Y  

2. Project ideas – Although currently there isn’t any funding available for the remainder of this programme period, we would still like to hear from you if you have a project idea that you would like to discuss. We are keeping a list of prospective projects so we can contact you when we know when future funding becomes available. Please contact the Sowing SEEDS office if you would like to be added to this list and receive further news of funding opportunities.

3. Take part in one of the of Consultation Workshops - The current LAG have organised six meetings that will take place across the LAG area throughout February and March 2014. The workshops will be an opportunity to share your views, opinions and ideas about the future of LAG activity in the area. As always light refreshments will be served on arrival.

Schedule of meetings: ·         Wednesday 19th February 2014.  6pm - Sturminster Newton ·         Wednesday 26th February 2014.  6pm - Broad Chalke ·         Wednesday 5th    March 2014.     6pm - Bourton ·         Wednesday 12th March 2014.      6pm - Sixpenny Handley ·         Wednesday 19th March 2014.      6pm - Maiden Bradley ·         Wednesday 26th March 2014.      6pm – Semley

4. For up-to-date information about the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) visit: http://rdpenetwork.defra.gov.uk/

Please contact Sarah Dyke-Bracher – Programme Manager on 07826 907361 for further details

Community artists, writers, illustrators and photographers needed

Raising Awareness and Understanding of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Community artists such as writers/illustrators/photographers are needed to work closely with a number of community groups and members of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) team to produce a range of texts and illustrations which will be used to bring a statutory document to life. The community artist/s engaged will hopefully draw out and capture people’s creative responses to the elements that make up the natural beauty of the special area, through participatory work. It is envisaged that this will be a collaborative commission between two or three community artists e.g. writer/illustrator/photographer who will work closely with a number of community groups and members of the AONB team to produce a range of texts and illustrations which will be used to bring a statutory document to life. Outputs There are three elements to this commission: 1.              Artist/s to produce a ‘Statement of Significance’ or ‘what makes this area special’ in conjunction with the AONB team (one – two A4 page/s, mainly prose). 2.              Artists working with community groups to produce creative material that will form an introduction to each section of the Plan (2 A4 pages for each section - 10 in total).  Chapter headings are as follows: landscape, natural environment (wildlife and natural resources), historic environment, rural land management, rural economy, planning and transport, viable rural communities, awareness and understanding, involvement and learning, access and wellbeing. 3.              An exhibition of all work produced to help significantly raise the profile and awareness and understanding of the AONB and to help ‘launch’ the new Management Plan in May/June 2014.  The team proposes a ‘rustic feel’ for the exhibition regarding venue, setting and display of contributions. Download the full creative brief here: AONB Artist Brief for Management Plan Deadline for applications is Wednesday 25 September 2013. Interviews will be held w/b 30 September 2013. Copyright: www.augustdesign.co.uk